JIGJIGA UNIVERSITY

CSSH
PSIR

PUBLIC POLICY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

COURSE
BY:
 INSTRUCTOR: MOHAMED ABDULLAHI (M.A)
Module Contents
 This module includes
 Basic concepts of Public policy
 Government Institutions and Policy Actors
 Ethical dimensions in Public Policy
 Models for Public Policy Analysis
 Engagement of Citizens, Stakeholders, and the Policy
Community
 The Policy Making Process
 Policy Evaluation – Thinking the End in Mind
 Public Policy in Ethiopia
Module Outcomes
At the end of this module, student will be able to:
 understand and appreciate the complexity of the policy
formation process,
 Understand different theories about human culture, social
identity, economic entities, political systems and other forms of
social organization
 identify public policy problems within the community and use
analytical skills to identify solutions to those problems.
 lead and manage policy cycle processes
 Assess, monitor and interpret the policy activities within their
regions
 Intellectually apply the policy analysis framework in
approaching policy problems
 Successfully implement the technical tools of policy analysis
Public Policy Defined
 PUBLIC:
 Domain of human activity which is regarded as requiring
governmental interventions or common action
 A domain of life which is not private or purely individual
but held in common
 POLICY:
 A purposive course of action taken or adopted by those in
power in pursuit of certain goals
Public Policy Defined
 Public policy consists of political decisions for
implementing programs to achieve societal goals
 Public policy is sum of government activities, whether
acting directly or through agents, as it has an influence on
the life of citizens
 A public policy is a deliberate plan of actions of the
government to guide decisions and achieve rational
outcomes
 Public Policy Defined
 The term Public Policy always refers to the actions of the
government and the intentions that determine those actions
 Public policy is the outcome of struggle in government over
who gets what.
 It is the course of action or inaction taken by governmental
entities with regard to a particular issue or set of issues
 Public Policy Defined
 (Fowler, 2000)
 “Public policy is the dynamic and value laden process through which a
political system handles a public problem. It includes a government’s
expressed intentions and official enactments as well as its consistent
patterns of activity and inactivity.”
 [Link] , 1975 :
 Public policy is a purposive course of action followed by govern-ment in
dealing with some topic or mater of public concern
 [Link] , 1953 :
 Public policy is the authoritative allocation of values for the whole
society
 [Link] , 1978 :
 Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do
 [Link] & [Link] , 1995 :
 Public policy consists of political decisions for implementing programs
Public Policy Defined
 Policy is what the government chooses not to do
 Policy is commonly embodied in constitutions,
legislative acts, and judicial decisions
 Public policy always refers to
 the actions of government and
 the intentions that determine those actions.
 Common attributes among definitions

1. Policy is made in “public’s” name.

2. Policy is generally made or initiated by government.
3. Policy is interpreted and implemented by public and
private actors.
4. Policy is what government intends to do.
5. Policy is what government chooses not to do.
 Why Study Public Policy?
 theoretical
 practical
 political
 The Contexts of Public Policy
 Social Context
 Economic Context
 Political Context
 Governing Context
 Cultural Context
Public Policy Typology
[Link] & E..Malone, 1995 :
1.1 Patronage / Promotional Policies:
 government actions that provide incentive for
idividuals or corporations to undertake activities they
would only reluctantly undertake without the promise
of a reward.
 These can be classified into three types :
 subsidies ;
 contracts; and
 licences.
Public Policy Typology
1.2 Regulatory Policies:
 allow the government to exert control over the conduct
of certain activites (‘negative forms of control’).
 Environmental pollution;
 civil & criminal penalties;
 consumption of tobacco, alcohol;
 consumer protection ; employee health and safety.
1.3 Redistributive Policies:
 control people by managing the economy as a whole.
 fiscal (tax) and monetary ( supply of money ) policies.
Public Policy Typology
[Link] & [Link],Jr , 2000. ( Following [Link] & Others
2.1. Liberal or Conservative Policies :
 Liberal policies
 are those in which the government is used extensively to
bring about social change, usually in the direction of
ensuring greater level of social equality.
 Liberals tend to favor a concentration of power in higher
levels of government ;
 Conservative policies
 generally oppose the use of government to bring about
social change but may approve government action to
preserve the status quo or to promote favored interests.
 Conservatives tend to favor decentralization of power and
authority.
Public Policy Typology
2.2 Substantive or Procedural Policies :
 Substantive policies
 are concerned with governmental actions to deal with
substantive problems, such as highway construction;
environmental protection; payment of welfare
benefits.
 Procedural policies
 are those that relate to how something is going to be
done or who is going to take action,
Public Policy Typology
2.3 Material or Symbolic Policies:
 Material policies provide concrete re-sources or
substantive power to their beneficiaries, or, impose real
disadvantages on those adversely affected. For example,
welfare payments; housing subsidies; etc.
 Symbolic policies appeal more to cherished values than
to tangibles benefits; such as national holidays that
honor patriots, concerning the flag etc.
Public Policy Typology
2.4 Collective or Private Goods Policies:
 Collective goods policies are those benefits that cannot
be given to some but denied to others, such as national
defense and public safety.
 Private goods policies are those goods that may be
divided into units, and for which consumers can be
charged, such as food, trash collection, home security
etc.
Rationale for government
intervention
 When the public and policymakers believe that
government needs to intervene to correct a social
problem, they create or alter policies.
 The rationale of government involvement is highly
contested
 during the process of agenda setting (to discourage or
encourage action),
 policy formulation (where the form of intervention is
designed), or
 policy legitimation (where the rationale for intervention
may be debated).
Rationale for government
intervention
 Political Reasons
 to solve a problem for political reasons
 Moral or Ethical Reasons
 When the gov’t action is seen as the right thing to do
 Economics and Market failure
 Market failure warrants government intervention.
 the existence of monopolies and oligopolies,
 externalities,
 information failures, and
 the inability to provide public or collective goods
Discussion Questions
 How are the policy environment linked to different policy
making efforts in Ethiopia?
 When society desires health care and a clean environment
for everyone, why does the free market not provide it ?
 Do you believe that the free market has proven a superb
device for eficiently producing goods and services?
 What do you say when efforts to relieve market
imperfections by public policy will also be flawed?
 Do you agree when others argue that government may be
the only actor that can improve market efficiency or alter
economic and social costs, risks, and income distribution
in a positive way?
Federalism
 a federal state as a type of governmental organization
within which both central and component
governments operate directly upon the people,
each being independent within respective,
constitutionally laid down spheres of allocated powers
and in a coordinating relationship with one another,
where by the residuary powers lie with the authority of
component units
Defining Federalism
 What is Federalism?
 It is a way of organizing a nation so that two or more
levels of government have formal authority over the land
and people.
 Intergovernmental Relations -
 It is the workings of the federal system- the entire set of
interactions among national, state and local
governments.
 Defining Federalism
Central
Unitary
•
Confederate
Holds primary authority • Limited powers
Federal
• Share power with
Government • Regulates activities of to coordinate State
states state activities

State • Little or no powers • Sovereign • Share Power with

government • Duties regulated by • Allocate some State
central government duties to central
government

Citizens • Vote for central • Vote for State • Vote for both
government government State and central
official gov. officials
Defining Federalism
 Why is Federalism So Important?
 Decentralizes our politics
 More opportunities to participate
 Decentralizes our policies
 Which government should take care of which problem?
 States can solve the same problem in different ways.
Federalism
 in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
 power is divided between the federal government and
the regional states.
 federal and regional governments have the ability to
make laws and public policies.
 different actors influence policy making as well as
implementation in the country.
Separation of Power
 the division of government responsibilities into
distinct branches
 no democratic system exists with an absolute
separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation
of powers.
 Governmental powers and responsibilities
intentionally overlap;
 There is an inherent measure of competition and
conflict among the branches of government.
 Fiscal federalism
 financial and economic issues,
 responds to the devolution of political, legal and
administrative powers.
 Constitutional distribution of revenue sources normally
results in a different financial capacity between regions.
 the distribution tasks and revenue sources between the
central and regional governments with the concern that
financial adjustment through revenue transfers is the
major concern of fiscal federalism.
Fiscal federalism
 It is about
 Allocation of expenditure responsibilities
 Deals with the issue as to which functions should be carried
out by which level of government.
 Allocation of Revenue raising powers
 Associated with the basis for desiring devolved expenditure
responsibilities
 Intergovernmental fiscal transfers
 embraces financial flows between the federal and regional
governments as a whole (vertical transfer)and the horizontal
distribution as between the regions.
Intergovernmental Relations Today
 Fiscal Federalism
 The pattern of spending, taxing, and providing grants in the
federal system; it is the cornerstone of the national
government’s relations with state and local governments.
 The Grant System: Distributing the Federal Pie
 Categorical Grants: Federal grants that can be used for specific
purposes. They have strings attached.
 Project Grants: based on merit

 Formula Grants: amount varies based on formulas

 Block Grants: Federal grants given more or less automatically to

support broad programs.
 Grants are given to states & local governments

Figure 3.2
 A federal system consists of different levels of
government that provide public goods and
services and have some scope for making
decisions.
 Fiscal federalism explores roles of different
levels of government and how they relate to one
another.

31
Interest Group and Public Policy
 Interest groups
 collection of individuals with intensely held preferences who
attempt to influence government policies to benefit their own
members.
 The existence and importance of special interest groups have to
do with the principle of rational ignorance.
 example,
 women’s right groups, minority right groups, religious groups,
 physicians groups, lawyer groups, farmer groups, and so forth.
 Groups attempt to influence policy in various ways including:
 lobbying government:
 Engaging in election activities
 Educating various publics
 Mobilizing various publics
Review Questions
 Define interest group and discuss several purposes interest
groups serve in Ethiopian politics. How do interest groups
differ from political parties?
 What are the different arenas in which we can be public
policy leaders? Teachers, businesspeople, volunteers,
church, politics, researchers, parents, community
organizers, journalists?
 Discuss the techniques, both direct and indirect, that
interest groups use to influence public policy. Are some
groups more likely to use certain strategies or techniques
than others?
 Why is our image of interest groups not very favorable? Do
lobbyists deserve all the blame? Can interest group activity
be reconciled with the principle of representative
democracy?
Obama (2009)
“The question we ask today is not whether our
government is too big or too small, but whether it
works . . . . And those of us who manage the public’s
knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely,
reform bad habits, and do our business in the
light of day, because only then can we restore
the vital trust between a people and their
government.”
ETHICS AND ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES
 Ethics deals with values – Plato and Socrates
 good and bad/ right and wrong.
 How should one live? What is the good life?
 What makes an action the right, rather than the wrong, thing
to do?
 What should our goals be?
 We cannot avoid involvement in ethics
 what we do and what we don’t do
Approaches of normative ethics
 ethical theory/ normative ethics
 concerned with developing and justifying the standards
or norms that should guide action.
 Applied ethics
 Ways norms or standards that are applied to actual
situations,
 study of ethics and politics is an example of applied
ethics.
ETHICS AND ETHICAL
PERSPECTIVES
 As applied to politics
 the central ethical questions are what ends or goals
should government serve?
 And what processes or means should government use to
achieve those ends?
 Approaches normative ethics
 Consequentialism
 Deontological ethics
 Virtue ethics.
Approaches of normative ethics
Consequentialism
 emphasizes good results as the basis for evaluating
human actions.
 What makes an action or a policy right - the greatest
possible increase of pleasure
 the ethical approach taken by most public officials.
 affirmative action program to promote diversity all are
taking this approach.
 Measuring administrator choice
Approaches of normative ethics
Consequentialism - Criticism
 sacrificing the interests of a few for the sake of the
many
 public health official
 affirmative action program that seeks diversity
 It is not possible to foresee or estimate all the possible/
probable consequences of a
 Problem of unintended consequences - Ford Motor
Company
Approaches of normative ethics
Consequentialism - Criticism
 Whose interests should be taken into account?
 Calculation of consequences itself.
 How should costs and benefits be weighed or measured?
 Should intensity of preference be measured?
 Consider - Armed intervention to prevent terrorism in
neighboring regions
Approaches of normative ethics
 Deontological ethics
 rooted in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant
 The basic moral duty is to treat people as ends rather
than as means to purposes outside of themselves
 moral obligations or duties we ought to fulfill apart from
consideration of consequences
 we have jobs to do and a moral obligation to do them
well
 human rights theories
 consent to after debate and deliberation.
Approaches of normative ethics
 Virtue ethics.
 moral questions from the standpoint of the moral agents and
focus on the sources of morality in their inner life and
character
 What kind of person should I be?
 Virtue ethics assumes that there are certain ideals toward
which we should strive because they provide for the full
development of our humanity.
 Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity,
fairness, and prudence are all examples of virtues
 Moral agents also ask who “we” are and who should “we” be.
 Public officials, in deciding on actions in specific
situations,
 RWANDA
CASE STUDY OF ETHICAL APPROACHES
Political Environment and Ethics
 Politics
 involves government and governors
 Is a distinctive realm, different from private life.
 deals with the life of the community
 transcends the private lives of ones own community
 promoting a fair and just society.
 Decision making in public life will usually involve a conflict
among values
 public officials may face a moral conflict between their
personal beliefs and the beliefs of their constituents.
No Types of Laws Roles and Conduct Informal moral
public values and norms
officials
1 Elected Election and Rules and code of Moral values and
officials penal law party and a norms of citizens
parliament and parliament
2 Politically Administrative Rule and code of Moral values and
appointed and penal laws parliament and norms of citizens
officials governments and parliament

3 Administra Administrative Rules and codes of Moral values and

tive and penal laws administration norms of citizens
officials and parliament
Ethical Priorities in Decision Making
 Do you think virtue in private life will always work for the
community too? Why?
 Promise-keeping
 Machiavelli
 Deceit may at times be prudent, but a politician must conceal
the fact that he is being deceitful.
 Also rulers must be prepared to use cruelty in order to better
maintain order in society
Ethical Priorities in Decision Making
 Max Weber’s
 evil means in politics
 violence, deception, manipulation, and lying in pursuit of their ends,
 evaluating them in terms of the ends
 responsible public official would draw a line s/he would not
cross for any end
Ethical Priorities in Decision Making
Summary
 ethical decision making in public life is highly complex.
 public officials usually adopt a consequentialist mode of
analysis.
 context matters in ethics
 experience,
 the responsibilities of a position,
 the bureaucratic level of a position in an executive hierarchy
 virtue and deontological ethics could play more prominent
role in ethical decision making than they currently do.
 politicians could represent us by consulting us
 THE POLICY CYCLE AND THE INFORMATION CYCLE
Problem Definition
Forecasting needs,
defining targets
Policy Design
Agenda
Defining nature
Setting size, distributions Decision
of problem analysis

Political
Opinion polls,
feasibility analysis
surveys,
Termination
etc. Policy
Summative
Formative Legitimation
evaluation
evaluation

Impact Implementation
Source : [Link], 1997, public policy
THE PUBLIC POLICY-MAKING PROCESS

Legislator(s) identify
policy concern

Legislator(s) develop
policy proposal

Congressional Record

Legislator(s) seek co-

sponsors

Measure is officially
introduced
THE PUBLIC POLICY-MAKING PROCESS
House/Senat Bill receives
e Begin a number
Committee
assigned

Bill passed
Sub-
committee
Conferenc assigned
Floor Action e
Committee
Hearings
Presidential
Calendar Bill Signature/Veto

Sub-committee
markup
Rules Full-
Committee committee
(H) markup